NASA says Hubble Space Telescope has been down for days

Washington:

The Hubble Space Telescope, which has scanned the universe for more than 30 years, has been down for a few days, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Friday.

The problem is a payload computer that stopped working last Sunday, the U.S. space agency said.

He insisted that the telescope itself and the accompanying scientific instruments are “healthy”.

“The purpose of the payload computer is to control and coordinate scientific instruments and monitor them for health and safety purposes,” NASA said.

An attempt to restart on Monday failed.

NASA said early evidence indicated that a degrading computer memory module was the source of the computer problem. An attempt to switch to a backup memory module also failed.

The payload computer technology dates back to the 1980s and was replaced during maintenance work in 2009.

Launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionized the world of astronomy and changed our view of the universe by sending images of the solar system, the Milky Way and distant galaxies.

A new, more powerful telescope, called the James Webb Space Telescope, is expected to be deployed at the end of this year. It’s designed to peer deeper into the cosmos than ever before.